COWARD
by WrittenWithPencils
Summary: It was on that night that Viqtarr learned something about himself...


**Before-the-fic notes; COWARD was slightly inspired by Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites by Skrillex. All character lines referencing the lyrics in the song are done on purpose to display the inspiration and disclaimed as of these three words. It should be noted that this is not a songfic.**

**x.x.x**

**COWARD. By WrittenWithPencils.**

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Perim. The Overworld. A random grassy field. Dusk.

A young girl ran away in fear as the massive Viqtarr followed her, getting closer and closer with each ground-shaking step. His one useful eye had itself locked on the tiny Chaotic Player.

The girl appeared to be doomed. She had lost her scanner. Was tired. Weak. Completely unfamiliar with the terrain. While Viqtarr, with the exception of the scanner part, was the complete opposite.

However, the girl wasn't aware that there wasn't a chance of losing him, and kept going, trying to shake him, trying to find a place to hide, or even find someone who could help her.

Her fear spiked the second she turned around to see how _close_ the monster was. Much closer than before, when she turned her head just a few minutes ago. It was as if instead of running out of breath he was doing the complete opposite and _gaining _it.

The young human ran as fast she could, pushing herself to the limit, trying to expand the gap between her and the Overworlder that was closing in fast, looking around for a place with a bunch of twists and turns. Somewhere that she could slip through with ease, but would be a challenge for the beast.

Then she tripped. Falling onto the cold hard ground face first, in the one small spot that didn't have grass for miles, getting a bit dirty and scraping herself.

She got up, but didn't have the energy to stand. She just sat there in the dirt, watching the scary monster approach her, pointing an arm at her, the crystal shard ready to fire. It seemed like the end was just around the corner for the girl. All that was needed for that end hiding around the corner to get there was the blast from that shard on Viqtarr's wrist.

While the girl got prepared for what was going to happen next, Viqtarr was standing in place, not moving a muscle. At first, it seemed like he was waiting for the girl to cry out something before he finished her off, but his face told another story. His teeth gritted, his eye a bit widened, his other hand appeared to be twitching, his breathe picking up a bit, even though he wasn't anywhere close to being out of breath.

There was something inside of him that prevented him from killing the child. Telling him '_You can't do this! It's not you! This goes against what you are! Don't do it!'_. He didn't understand what was that was holding him back. He couldn't make it go away. It was a powerful anomaly that would always manifest in cases like this, cases where he had a Chaotic Player pinned.

And every time, they got away. Every single one of them. He would remember each incident clearly. The human, the location, the time of day, everything.

There was one in particular that he remembered. One that made him mad every time the thought materialized. It was high noon. An alley in Kiru City. He had three older kids trapped. Two boys, one girl. A trio of punk kids with no respect.

They laughed at the frozen Viqtarr that stood before them, shaking, unable to finish them off. The look on his face would keep those brats cracking up for weeks.

_''Wow, what a coward,'' said the one girl in the group._

_''Yeah, dude, is that the best you've got? Lame as heck. I've seen that big four-armed guy in the arsenal do better,'' said one of the boys as he high-five with the other one. The kids continued to laugh as they pulled out their scanners and teleported away. Viqtarr just stood there. Not because he was stunned, but because of what just happened._

The little girl slightly and slowly rose her head to see the monster shaking, looking as if he had gotten brain freeze. His arm was no longer aimed straight at her. It moved slowly in a number of directions, none of which being a lock-on.

The young human saw the chance for escape and didn't hesitate to take it. She got up as fast as she could and began to run for it, dashing off as fast as she could, looking for a place to hide from the beast that appeared to be a bit frozen. She began to notice that the moon was starting to rise, and the sky was turning black. Night. The best chance to stay out of sight.

While she fled, Viqtarr snapped out of it, no longer shaking, now a bit dozey and confused. The 'thing' that had held him back had stopped, giving the Overworlder full control again.

He set eyes on the small patch of dirt again to see that the girl had vanished. Looking up, he saw the child running down a slope, vanishing again. But Viqtarr could still hear her breaths and footsteps. She wasn't gone just yet.

He wasn't letting her get away this time. He ran as fast as he could, following the sounds she made as she attempted to get out of his range, which she unknowingly was still in, and rapidly getting deeper into as Viqtarr closed in from behind.

The child looked around for somewhere to hide, knowing that staying out in the open would get her killed. Luckily, there was a cave ahead that would offer numerous places to hide in, and then slip away from when the monster has his back turned.

She went into the cave, not worrying about the darkness. Her fear of the dark was gone, seemingly replaced by this large animal that was chasing after her with the intent of killing. If anything at all, the dark was her best friend now. It could help her escape from him, and wouldn't kill her.

Not too far behind was Viqtarr, still gradually closing in, just entering the cave, now following the sounds of her voice and nothing more. The echoing that the place offered helped him out, making her easy to detect through hearing.

The small girl saw a large stone ahead of her in the darkness that made it extremely hard to see, more than big enough to hide her from the giant that was on its way. Time was running out, before Viqtarr would have her in his grasp again, so she didn't waste any time. She got into her hiding place as fast as she could and balled up, trying to not make a sound, waiting for him to pass so she could slip away when he wasn't looking.

The Overworlder noticed the sudden silence as he ceased running and began to look around the cave. Dead end. Nothing else but a few large rocks, a few carvings in the wall here and there, crystals forming in random areas, and what appeared to be bones.

Where was the girl? This dead end surely would have left her without a place to run. If she had tried to turn back and go around him she surely would have heard her, and most likely see her as well.

Little did he know that the girl was right next to him.

She saw the chance to escape as she noticed the monster walk up to the wall and begin to look at the odd carvings on the walls. He was out of the way and it didn't look like he was going to turn around for a bit of time. That bit was enough to sneak away from him.

She got up slowly as she fled from her hiding place and began to slowly walk away from him. Making sure that her footsteps were silent. Even the slightest sound would give her away.

It seemed like she was going to make it. The monster seemed to be very interested in the weird wall drawings. Perhaps they said something only his kind could understand? If so, what it said appeared to be keeping him busy. Hopefully busy enough to let her get away safely.

As the warrior looked at the carvings in the wall, which, though poorly done, were still understandable, he got hit by another wave of thoughts. Thoughts of the times where he had managed to corner an intruding Chaotic Player, but couldn't find the nerve to hurt them, physically, specifically anything over grabbing them by the collar or pinning them against a wall and such. The one he was currently playing back in his mind was another one that stood out. This one did especially.

_It was in the arsenal. Dead of night. He had found a teenage human girl sneaking around. He wasted no time in going after her. She tried to run away, only to hit a wall seconds later. As she recovered from the shock, Viqtarr approached her._

_But when he tried to make a move, the girl spoke._

_''Hey, wait a minute, aren't you the creature that got called a coward by those goth kids?''_

_Viqtarr didn't see that one coming. How did she know about this? She wasn't the girl that was with the punk, as this one looked nothing like her. Perhaps someone told her._

_''Who told you that?'' he asked the girl with an angry look._

_''No one. I saw it myself. I saw you chasing after them, and, I couldn't help but be nosy,'' the human replied as she got on her feet, dusting herself off while doing so. ''I followed you and those creeps and... well, I think you can guess what happened next...''_

_He could. She saw what happened when he had those kids cornered. What they said to him as he locked up and shook._

_''Listen, it's not a bad thing if you can't hurt kids,'' The girl continued. ''It just means that you care... well, something like that. Maybe it makes you...''_

_''A coward?''_

_''Well, no, but, maybe we can call it that. I mean, being a 'coward', well, the coward that were talking about here, shouldn't be a bad thing.''_

_''I look weak! They'll think I'm weak!''_

_''I don't see how murdering kids fixes that.''_

_''What are you trying to tell me!?''_

_''I'm just saying that you're a 'coward' in a good way. ...Looks like we have our own term for coward now...'' the girl finished. The Overworlder was very confused now, not caring when she ported away. He was too deep in thought._

That rush of events, even weeks afterwards, was still a clear thought in his head. In that one minute alone, it made his stress go up even more.

He was still in deep denial. He wasn't willing to believe that he was this 'coward'. He thought this in an angry tone in his head as he heard noises, which, when he turned around, were the sounds of the small child he had been chasing tripping over untied shoelaces.

He was going to prove that he wasn't a coward, whether it was one definition or the other.

Right in this cave.

He quickly approached the child that was still lying on the ground, just noticing the creature. He pointed the shard weapon at her, ready to fire, but then as he expected, the strange 'thing' holding him back returned. He began to fight the urge with all his strength, motivated by rage, anger and denial. His arm slowly began to have the girl in it's range as it moved up with Viqtarr's arm while shaking violently, getting closer with each second.

The girl let off a tear as she watched it get closer and closer to her face. Viqtarr's face was as mad-looking as could be. The Overworlder was looking like he was about to break down as the shaking got worse and he began grinding his teeth slightly. His fists were tighter than knots and his toes were curled up a bit.

His arm was nearly at the girl's face.

Thoughts and feeling were racing through his head like crazy. The entity that held him back, the past thoughts of when he had been frozen, and the incident involving the girl who told him about the word 'coward'.

Her voice replayed in his head. Along with the brats' voices as well.

_''You're a coward in a good way.''_

_''Wow, what a coward.''_

_''It's not a bad thing if you can't hurt kids.''_

As the voices echoed, Viqtarr lost focus. He was too lost in his mind to notice that his arm was gradually aiming off elsewhere again, even worse than earlier. The little girl didn't bother to even look. She just sat there, head down, hands on her head, crying.

The Overworlder began to lose his feeling of rage as his growling turned into what sounded like something similar to sobbing. He began to close his eyes as his head overflowed with confusion. For a few moments, he seemed to be lost in a world of thoughts and flashbacks in a rather chaotic pattern, with no sign of stopping. Then it became too much as his own voice played in his head.

''_I'M A COWARD.''_

He fell on his knees with his head covered by his big hands, repeating what he had just said in his mind over and over again. His denial had seemingly shattered. He realized that the entity holding him back didn't exist; it was just himself. Part of him. Nothing else to it.

The girl noticed this as she rose her head up to see that the monster was crying. Why exactly, she did not know. All she wanted to do now was just... leave. As she tried to, she heard the beast speak.

''Wait!'' said Viqtarr as he got back on his feet and walked towards the scared child. ''I'm sorry.'' He'd say more, but he was at a loss for words. He couldn't really say much, since he had just tried to kill this girl.

But luckily, the young human understood. From her perspective, she thought that he learned that it was bad to put your hands on others. Though that wasn't the case, it would work for now.

''How about we find your scanner thing?'' Viqtarr asked the little girl.

The girl slightly nodded 'yes' as the two began to walk towards the cave exit. Viqtarr would have to remember to thank that one Chaotic Player next time he saw her.

And as he walked, the term 'coward' was glued in his mind. Thought it most likely wasn't the correct term, and there was probably another word to describe this, Viqtarr for the mean time just felt like calling it 'cowardice'.

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**This was a pretty difficult story to pull off, but I did it. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed it. You can see that I decided to add some odd stuff to it, such as the girl's misunderstanding of the situation and Viqtarr's own term for being a coward. I don't know, I just felt like it would be a decent addition to the story.**

**If you would like to see an epilogue to this, just ask me.**

**Another thing; if any of you were reading 'Problems in Prexxor', you should know that it no longer exists. And now it's time for me to go. Review, please?**

**XxX WrittenWithPencils XxX**


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